SoftBank’s Arm starts IPO road show in Baltimore to court T. Rowe Price

By Echo Wang and Anirban Sen

NEW YORK (Reuters) -Arm Holdings Ltd, the chip designer owned by SoftBank (TYO:) Group Corp, began its marketing road show for its blockbuster initial public offering on Tuesday in Baltimore, where T. Rowe Price is headquartered, underscoring the fund manager’s significance as a potential investor.

Arm is also meeting with other potential investors, including Arlington, Virginia-based Sands Capital, in Baltimore on Tuesday, according to people familiar with the matter.

The chip designer is expected to meet with other investors in cities including New York in the days leading up to the pricing of its IPO on Sept. 13, the sources said.

Arm declined to comment. T. Rowe Price and Sands Capital did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Earlier on Tuesday, Arm said it would seek to raise about $4.9 billion at a valuation of more than $52 billion from its IPO, which is expected to be the biggest stock market flotation of the year.

Arm has signed up many of its major clients as investors in its IPO, including Apple (NASDAQ:), Nvidia (NASDAQ:), Alphabet (NASDAQ:), Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ:), Intel (NASDAQ:) and Samsung Electronics (KS:).

Arm has said that cornerstone investors have separately indicated an interest in buying a combined $735 million of the American Depositary Shares (ADS) being sold.